


Just shoot already

by SophiaHoppia



Series: FFXV week 4 [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Blood, Chocobros - Freeform, Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, OT4, Panic Attack, Self-Esteem Issues, Swearing, Violence, Vomiting, fun fact: I probably wouldn't even read a ff with these tags, it's not very graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 04:18:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11821080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophiaHoppia/pseuds/SophiaHoppia
Summary: After splitting up in a dungeon, Prompto and Gladio are confronted with a rather annoying enemy. They soon realize it's impossible to get out of this fight unharmed.





	Just shoot already

**Author's Note:**

> [FFXV week 2017](http://ffxvweek.tumblr.com/post/162772616911/here-are-the-writing-prompts-for-ffxvweek-4), prompt four!  
> 

"Just shoot already!!" Gladio's strained voice reverberated throughout the small cave.  
Prompto bit his lip, trying to calm his shaking hands and aim at the enemy, the swordsman currently had in his grip. 

They had explored a rather nasty dungeon as a sudden landslide had separated them from Noctis and Ignis. Since they couldn't risk causing another slide with hasty action, their adviser told them to follow the path in front of them, insuring, it would lead back to them eventually. At the same time, they'd go further ahead as well, until they finally met again.  
Never doubting the decision of their tactician, the gunner and swordsman went on, only to have the ground collapse beneath their feet again, falling down to a harsh landing. They both healed themselves up with their last potions, silently asking themselves why they'd thought it was a good idea to let Ignis carry most of their curatives, as they jumped to the side to avoid a suddenly stricken down sword. They looked up to a samurai-daemon, resembling a Yojimbo they'd used to fight a few times in the past. But they soon had to realize that this daemon surpassed a Yojimbo in both skill and speed. After trying everything they could with their usual fighting tactics and taking several hits themselves without landing even one on their adversary, Gladio decided to hold the monster down for Prompto to shoot it.

Which led them to the current situation, as Gladio struggled to keep a firm grip on the daemon. Seriously, how strong was this monster, if he could equally wrestle with the strong muscleman Gladio was? 

"Prompto!" the swordsman's impatient call reached Prompto's ears as he still tried to take aim.  
"I can't. You have to stand still for me to aim," he explained.  
"Just shoot already!" Gladio screamed without any hesitation. He had already taken some hits before, as he tried to cut the daemon down, but failed to get him. One deep cut on his forehead stung especially and the blood flowing down into his left eye annoyed him way too much.  
"No, I can't risk to hit _you_ ," Prompto screamed.  
"Don't worry about that!"  
"But-"  
"Come on, it's our only chance!" his voice sounded very strained as he turned and tumbled, unsuccessfully trying to hold the daemon completely at bay.  
Prompto tried to aim for their opponent's head, but every time he almost pulled the trigger, it wrestled around enough to get out of his fireline.  
"You're moving too much, big guy!"  
"By the Six, shoot, Prompto! You're always shooting down enemies during a battle with Noct, Iggy and me jumping all over the place," he argued.  
"I know, but I never aim at one so close to you guys! It's like you try to avoid hitting us with your sword all the time!"  
"Prom, you have t-" Gladio's sentence came to an abrupt end as the daemon had managed to wiggle itself free and rammed its sword through the shield's stomach. 

Prompto held his breath in disbelief, as his lover stared up wide eyed at the daemon, which didn't hesitate to pull out its sword only to strike at him again.  
Gladio's agonizing scream of pain echoed through Prompto's head, as he threw away his pistol, summoned his machinery weapon from the Armiger and went berserk. 

In his rage, he managed to hit the daemon, which was too busy stabbing Gladio, again and again, to defend himself on time. He sent it flying quite some distance away and sprinted after it to strike it down for real, not stopping until it dissolved into dark smoke. 

Panting heavily, he let go of his weapon and stormed back to Gladio at once, who lay on his back with a hand pressed onto his stomach, eyes squinted shut in pain. He crouched down beside him and quickly scanned over the other's beaten up body, trying to assess the damage. As he saw several deep flesh wounds, panic began to rise within him.  
"Shit", he muttered and looked around helplessly. They had fallen to another cave with nothing but stones and dirt. At the one end seemed to be a path, but he had no time to check out where it led. Not that he expected to find anything helpful in this damned dungeon.  
"Gladio?", he tried to talk to his companion, but only got a groan, grimaced with pain, as an answer.  
"Shit", he said again, "Calm down. You've got this. Don't worry, big guy!" Even though he addressed the man lying before him, his words were rather meant to calm himself down. He had to stay calm, think about what to do and do it right. He couldn't mess this up. He had already messed up once today. He should have just listened to Gladio and shot the daemon, as he had the chance. He surely wouldn't have hit Gladio. He never did before. He was always so confident in his shooting skills, why did he has to hesitate today at all days? It was his fault, Gladio got hurt so badly. His fault, he lay here on the cold and dirty ground, bleeding and groaning in pain. His fault-  
"Prom," the swordsman's strained voice pulled him out of his spiral of thoughts and he immediately crouched down next to his face.  
"Yes! I'm here, Gladio!"  
"Pressure..." Gladio said before groaning in pain again.  
"Pressure?" Prompto asked in wonder. He blinked at him, awaiting another response, but got none. So he let his gaze wander back to the shield's stomach, where he still held his hands over the wounds. 

As Prompto's brain finally caught up, he quickly skidded to his side, taking off his vest in the process, "Pressure, right!"  
He carefully pulled away Gladio's hands and pressed his scrunched up piece of clothing onto his stomach, "Pressure, to stop the bleeding! Am I right?" As he didn't get an answer, not even a groan, he looked up into his lover's face, which suddenly didn't look so much torn from pain anymore. Instead, he looked rather... numb.  
"Gladio?"  
No answer.  
"Hey, come on, big guy. Say something!"  
But Prompto didn't get the answer he desired, not even the smallest reaction.  
"Shit. Gladio, no. Don't do this to me," he said desperately and chewed on his bottom lip subsequently, "Gladio. Gladiolus! You have to tell me, what to do. Please?"

Shit. This wasn't good. This wasn't good! This wasn't good at all! He had to act! He had to do something. But what? What could he do? He hated himself for being this helpless. He knew some things about first aid, but his brain felt so empty right now. What had Gladio said? Pressure. Right. He did that. He applied pressure to the wounds. Tried to stop the bleeding. He probably had to clean the wounds somehow. The question was _how exactly_. He didn't have anything to work with. No curatives, no water, no nothing. He had to calm down. Wasn't there anything else he could do? What did he usually do, when one of his companions suffered from injuries? He used a potion or an antidote. Which he didn't have with him right now. Great. Back to point one again. What else did he do? He called over Ignis. Ignis?

"IGGY!!" his desperate scream echoed through the cave, "IGGY! NOCT! Where are you guys? I need your help!"

When he heard movement from the corridor at the end of the room, hope flashed through his eyes but went away again, as soon as he looked up and saw the Flan assaulting him. 

"Fuck... no, no, no, stay away!" he screamed, but the daemon paid his words no mind and got ready to attack. Having enough sense left to get the enemy away from Gladio, he got up and moved to the side, quickly shooting at the Flan with his summoned gun. Successfully drawing its attention, he lured it away from his wounded comrade before he started to fight it in earnest. Which wasn't easy on his own, because his bullets seemed to keep getting stuck inside his wobbly adversary without so much as bothering it.  
"Tsk, how about this!" he started to shoot at it with two guns at once, stopping its movement with a rain of bullets. After several moments he stopped, hoping to have achieved victory, but the Flan only wobbled again before shooting some dark energy at the gunner.  
"Woah!!" he managed to dodge the assault and got back to shooting at it nonstop. Maybe he'd be able to kill it if he just kept it up long enough. But when his gaze fell back onto Gladio, still motionless lying on the ground, a dark red puddle forming beneath him, he knew he _wouldn't have_ long enough. He needed to come up with a better idea. Quickly. Maybe he could trap it somehow? But he didn't have anything to trap it with. He could try to lure it to the corridor and run back to Gladio afterwards. Though he didn't think the Flan was stupid enough the just stay at the corridor without attacking them again. Also, he didn't know if there were even more daemons down there. Had he attracted its attention with his former exclamations? No, he had to think of something else. Quickly.

He felt his breath going faster and faster, as he tried to come up with a suitable solution. All the while checking on Gladio in the corner of his eye, watching the puddle around his lover grow bigger with time. 

Shit.

He had to act now. He couldn't mess this up as well. He'd failed more than enough today. He couldn't. He wouldn't. He. He...

As he saw his vision go blurry before him, his shots suddenly missing their aim, he realized that he- at some point -had stopped breathing. Quickly taking a deep breath into his aching lungs, he concentrated on hitting his target again. He needed to focus. He had to. Couldn't he do anything right today? It wasn't this hard. Just one little daemon. He was easily able to keep it at bay. Now he just had to eliminate him. Think, Prompto. Try to remember, what you usually do.

Well...

Usually, he wasn't the one dealing with these types of enemies. Noct killed most of the time with his special royal arms. Or Ignis hit them with his magic. But both of them weren't here right now. He was on his own and had to deal with this problem himself- wait, magic? He stored his guns and took out what seemed to be his last spell of ice magic and threw it right at the Flan, hoping that'd be enough to finish it off. The spell crashed down on his enemy and he felt the cool breeze hit him as well, desperately shielding his eyes with his arm.

As the piercing storm of cold finally calmed down, he saw that the Flan had dissolved into smoke.  
"Thank Shiva..." he mumbled and hurried to get back to Gladio's side, tripping over his own feet in his eagerness and falling face down upon Gladio's stomach. 

When he tremblingly straightened up again, feeling a warm wetness on his face and the distinctive taste of iron on his lips, he finally lost it. Shivering fingernails bore into his cheeks as he screamed every last bit of air out of his throat before an unbearable sickness took hold of his whole body and made him vomit. Fortunately, he somehow managed to turn away from Gladio just in time to not discharge the contents of his stomach onto the other's wounds.

The unpleasant, acid taste paired with iron mixed with the salt of his tears and he felt his stomach turn over once again. He didn't know how he managed to scream, cry and vomit all at once, but he somehow did. Always coughing for air in between almost on reflex. 

He didn't know how much time had passed until his brain managed to slowly function again, letting him hear his own thoughts anew, but he _did_ know that he had fucked up hard. He had done nothing else but fucking up today. He had failed so many times. Failed himself. Failed Gladio, who had trusted him. Failed Ignis, who believed they'd make it out of here. Failed Noctis, who'd probably lose his sworn shield today. And that all because he couldn't pull the trigger on time. Because he'd been a coward. Six forsaken! Why had he hesitated? Everything would have been alright if he had just shot this daemon down. If he'd had the balls to fulfill his gods' damn job as a gunner! But he didn't. No ifs could change that fact. 

Huh. Maybe he should accept the fact that he was a worthless loser. What good did complaining do, if it didn't change anything anyway? Yeah. He should just stop complaining. Should stop thinking altogether. Stop trying to be anything, he couldn't be. Stop trying to do anything, he couldn't do. He should just... shut up.

As the world slowly seemed to turn around him, he imagined seeing Ignis and Noctis running towards him, before everything went black.

~

When he opened his eyes again, he was confused to blink up at the stars. Had he died? Was this what heaven looked like? Whatever. He closed his eyes again. His eyelids were still too heavy.  
"P-prom?"  
A soft voice to his right, made him want to open his eyes back up again.  
"Iggy? Iggy! I think he's waking up."  
Iggy? Did the voice just call over Iggy? Was he here? Iggy... the name reminded him of something. He had sought out Iggy. He had needed his help with something. He-

"GLADIO!" Prompto opened his eyes for real this time, jolting awake as the memories flooded back into his system all at once. A great wave of nausea hit him, after sitting up so abruptly, and he pressed a hand to his mouth, closing his eyes once more. Not again.

"I'm fine, Prom," he heard a tired voice and a large hand grabbed his left thigh.  
"Prompto, calm down. It's fine," the soft voice to his right, sounding like Noctis, spoke up again and placed a hand on his shoulders, holding him firmly but gently.  
"Prompto, darling. You have to breathe slowly. Everything is alright," he heard Ignis's voice in front of him and felt a hand softly caressing his neck, "Look at me, darling."

He carefully opened his eyes again and looked up at Ignis, whose worried look turned into a smiling one as soon as he did.  
"Exactly. Like this. And now try to breathe. Slowly. Together with me. In, and out," Ignis slowly helped him to take control over his own body again. After a while, Prompto handled his breathing fine again and finally took in his surroundings. Looked like they were at the nearest haven and it was nighttime by now. He sat on his sleeping bag, with several blankets placed above and around him. Noctis sat on his right side, still holding his shoulders, thumbs circling over his skin. Ignis had crouched down in front of him and he heard the soft sleeping noises of their chocobos behind his back. 

At last, his gaze went down to his left, where Gladio lay beside him, looking rather exhausted, smiling up at him nonetheless. Tears welled up again and he started to whisper with such a raspy voice, it surprised himself, "Sorry, big guy. I'm so sorry."  
"Hey, hey, don't be!" Gladio said as he squeezed his thigh again.  
"It's alright. I'm just a little tired, nothing more. Iggy healed me up tip-top! Honestly, he pushed so many curatives at me, I'm almost feeling a little high," he chuckled and Prompto tried to stop crying.  
" _I'm_ sorry, I passed out on you. Must have been scary," the shield sounded really worried.  
"You don't have to be sorry, Gladio! It's all my fault. I messed up," Prompto bit his bottom lip.  
"No, Prom, you didn't mess up. We're both fine and that's all that matters," he assured him.  
"I should have just shot the daemon as I had the chance," the gunner's voice got louder and he had to cough afterwards. His throat felt so dry.  
"Easy there," Ignis carefully caressed his cheek and fetched a bottle of water with his other hand. He opened it up and held it to Prompto's lips.  
"Try to take a few small sips. But slowly," the adviser instructed and skillfully held the bottle as Prompto managed to take some sips as instructed. The cool liquid sliding down his raw throat was a true blessing.

"You didn't have the chance to and that's why you did everything right with _not_ shooting," Gladio said, carefully getting back to their conversation, "The daemon was struggling way too much. Hitting him with a shot would have been pure luck. And with how much bad luck we already had inside this dungeon, you probably would have hit me instead. And believe me, I probably wouldn't even be able to talk to you right now, if you had shot me down."  
Prompto visibly flinched at the mere mention of the scenario, but Gladio continued all the same.  
"I shouldn't have pushed you. I was way too desperate at the time and didn't think about my own well-being. But _you_ did. So thanks for looking out for me, Prom. You saved me!" 

"Glaaadiiiooo~" Prompto tried to hold back his tears again as he launched down unto Gladio's shoulder, face nuzzling to his neck.  
"I'm still sorry, but... but, thanks, big guy," he sniffled, "I love you."  
"I love you too, Prom," Gladio answered and placed several kisses upon the blonde hair.  
"I love you all," the shield elaborated fondly.  
"Me too," Noctis said softly before cuddling against Prompto's back.  
"I, too, reciprocate your feelings," Ignis said as he placed some of the blankets above them and nuzzled up against Gladio's left shoulder, his hand resting upon Prompto's.  
"Come on, Iggy..." the prince mumbled already half-asleep, "it's way too late to understand your weird words."  
The adviser chuckled and teasingly answered, "I am quite certain, we are obliged to work on your vocabularies again then. Palpably you have forgotten some important words."  
Noctis just groaned at this answer and Gladio laughed, which caused his chest, and with it, them all to shake slightly.  
Prompto smiled. He was alive. They were all alive. He could feel it. Their movements. Their warmth. Their love. Everything was alright now.

**Author's Note:**

> [I can't write when I'm sleeping but caffeine helps me to stay awake!](https://ko-fi.com/sophiahoppia)   
> 


End file.
